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The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent Federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident the United States. The NTSB determines the probable cause of the accidents and issues safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents. In addition, the NTSB carries out special studies concerning transportation safety and coordinates the resources of the Federal Government and other organizations to provide assistance to victims and their family members impacted by major transportation disasters.

A Lufthansa Airbus A340-300, registration D-AIFA performing flight LH-426 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Philadelphia,PA (USA), was under tow to the departure gate at Frankfurt's terminal when the tow truck caught fire. The flames substantially damaged the aircraft as well, 10 people received minor injuries.

Lufthansa reported a tow truck should have towed the empty aircraft to the departure gate, when the tow truck caught fire for so far unknown reason and substantially damaged the aircraft including smoke damage to the cockpit, too. Six people received minor injuries in the occurrence.

In the afternoon Lufthansa reported the number of injuries needed to be updated, 10 people received minor injuries as result of smoke inhalation, however, no passengers were affected. The airline re-iterated: "das Cockpit wurde massiv durch Rauch beeinträchtigt" (the cockpit was massively affected by smoke) when smoke entered the aircraft.

A replacement A340-300 registration D-AIGP departed with a delay of two hours.

On Jun 12th 2018 Lufthansa reported the tug was a Diesel driven tow truck operated by their own handling firm LEOS. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The damage of the airframe is being assessed and will take days.

On Jun 12th 2018 Germany's BFU reported they are not going to investigate the occurrence.